More and more stories of heroism from the night of the Colorado Dark Knight shooting have begun to emerge as victims and their families try to make sense of the act of violence that killed 12 people and injured another 58.

A teenage girl told today how she frantically tried to give CPR to a six-year-old family friend who was shot in the midnight premiere of the new Batman movie last Friday.

Kaylan, 13, whose family is not releasing her last name in order to have privacy, was trying to protect Veronica Moser-Sullivan, the youngest fatality of the shooting.

“It was terrifying because I couldn’t see the person who had done it,” Kaylan said. “I’m still in shock. I don’t think it’s hit me yet.”

After the shooting started, a wounded adult fell on Moser-Sullivan, trapping her on the floor, Kaylan said in an interview with CBS.

“They kept saying that they couldn’t [move],” she said. “They were numb. I was just begging the person to please try.”

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Seven people remain in hospital in critical condition following the rampage in the Denver suburb of Aurora.

Alex Teves was killed in the hail of gunfire as the 24-year-old tried to shield his girlfriend, Amanda Lindgren, from harm in the chaos of the dark theater.

His father Tom, has described how he felt it was his duty to be in court when the accused gunman appeared on Monday.

“Somebody had to be in the courtroom to say, you know what, you went in with ballistic protection and guns. You shot a six-year-old! I mean give me a break,” Teves said after the court hearing.

“And then when the cops came you gave up? You’ve got the ballistic protection on — take on some guys who know how to use guns,” he said.

Lindgren had tears pouring down her face as she talked about her love for Alex, who she said was her best friend before they started dating.

Ryan Cooper, who knew Teves from their time at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix and then together at the University of Arizona, said his friend was “absolutely hilarious” and transcended social borders.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

“Every single day of high school, he would wear jeans and a plain white T-shirt. Every single day. There was not a single day he didn’t,” Cooper said.

“One day a bunch of his friends decided, ’we’re going to have an Alex Tuesday.’ And the entire school wore jeans and a plain white T-shirt. There were hundreds of people. That was just a testament to who he was.”

Tom Teves wavered between sadness and anger, tears welling up in his eyes as he criticized the man accused of killing his son of cowardice.

“My kid is dead and he’s never coming back, and he was one of the best people on Earth. And I gotta look at that coward walking into court,” he said. “And I saw the coward in court today. Alex could have wiped the floor with him without even breaking a sweat.”

The family is planning memorial services in Arizona and New Jersey.

“We’re gonna miss him terribly and we love him, but we know he’s in heaven and he’s gonna be OK,” Teves said. “We’re the ones who are going to suffer.”

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James Eagan Holmes, who was arrested outside the theater shortly after the massacre, said nothing during his first court appearance and may not have noticed Tom Teves.

Anger spilled out when the world got its first view of Holmes, shuffling into court in a maroon jailhouse jumpsuit. Relatives of the shooting victims leaned forward in their seats. Two women held hands tightly, one shook her head. One woman’s eyes welled up with tears. Holmes never said a word.

Robert Blache watched video clips from the 12-minute court appearance with his injured daughter Christina, who was shot in both legs during the rampage, and questioned Holmes’ sanity.

“He doesn’t look surprised at any of it, but he seemed amazed at what was happening. I’m pretty sure he’s not sane,” Blache said.

Holmes, whom police say donned body armour and was armed with an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun and handguns during the attack, was arrested shortly afterward. His home was booby-trapped with a trip wire, explosives and unknown liquids that took a day to disarm.

Police have said Holmes began buying guns at Denver-area stores nearly two months before Friday’s shooting and that he received at least 50 packages in four months at his home and at school.

Holmes is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, and he could face additional counts of aggravated assault and weapons violations. Holmes has been assigned a public defender.

His prosecution is likely to be a long road. He won’t be formally charged until next Monday, and police expect months of working with behavioural analysts and scrutinizing Holmes’ relationships to establish a motive. As for a trial, that could take more than a year, said prosecutor Carol Chambers.

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

Chambers said her office is considering the death penalty, but that a decision will be made in consultation with the victims’ families.

David Sanchez said that would be the appropriate punishment if Holmes is convicted. He said his then pregnant daughter escaped without injury but her husband was shot in the head and was in critical condition.

A spokeswoman for University of Colorado Denver Hospital relayed the following statement from the family: “The family is excited to say that Hugo Jackson Medley was born at 7:11 a.m. this morning. Both mom and baby are doing great.”

Mark Boster / The Associated Press

“When it’s your own daughter and she escaped death by mere seconds, I want to say it makes you angry,” Sanchez said. He said Medley and her husband waited a year for the release of the movie.

Chambers’ office is responsible for the convictions of two of the three people on Colorado’s death row. Chambers also is the only state district attorney to seek the death penalty in any case in the last five years, said Michael Radelet, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder who tracks death penalty cases.

Colorado uses the death penalty relatively sparingly. It has executed just one inmate since capital punishment was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976. The state legislature fell one vote short of abolishing the death penalty in 2009.

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

At a news conference in San Diego, where Holmes’ family lives, their lawyer refused to answer questions about him and his relationship to the family. Lisa Damiani said later: “Everyone’s concerned” about the possibility of the death penalty.

When asked if they stood by Holmes, Damiani said, “Yes, they do. He’s their son.”

Weeks before, Holmes quit a 35-student Ph.D. program in neuroscience for reasons that aren’t clear. He had earlier taken an intense oral exam that marks the end of the first year but University of Colorado Denver officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns.

University officials have refused to answer questions about Holmes.

“To the best of our knowledge at this point, we think we did everything that we should have done,” Donald Elliman, the university chancellor, told reporters.

The judge has issued an order barring lawyers in the case from publicly commenting on matters including evidence, whether a plea deal is in the works or results of any examination or test.

The shooting was the worst in the U.S. since the Nov. 5, 2009, attack at Fort Hood, Texas. An Army psychiatrist was charged with killing 13 soldiers and civilians and wounding more than two dozen others.

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